Exploring the experiences of female film professionals and evaluating policies addressing gender disparities in Nollywood

This study critically investigates the lived experiences of female film professionals in Nigeria’s Nollywood industry through a feminist production lens that integrates postfeminist sensibility and intersectionality. It examines how gendered power dynamics operate at both the micro level, such as labour practices, wage disparities, harassment, and stereotyping, and the macro level, where industry structures, cultural norms, and policy gaps reinforce inequality. Drawing on in-depth interviews with 11 women working across Nollywood’s informal and largely self-regulated production ecosystem, the research uncovers systemic challenges including sex-for-roles demands, violence, exploitation, blacklisting, beauty and colourism standards, and career precarity. These experiences are shown to be further shaped by intersecting factors such as age, ethnicity, class, and body type. While participants expressed resilience and ambition, many internalised a postfeminist narrative of individual responsibility, emphasising self-help over structural critique, which often masked the need for collective activism or institutional reform. In response to these findings, the study critically evaluates national and international gender policy frameworks, including the National Gender Policy (NGP) and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). It argues that Nollywood’s reliance on informal, self-regulatory mechanisms significantly undermines the effectiveness of such policies. The study, therefore, calls for enforceable, industry-wide gender policies and accountability structures that move beyond symbolic representation to address the systemic roots of inequality in the Nigerian film industry.

Publisher

University of Galway

Rights

CC BY-NC-ND

cbn

Collections

University of Galway Theses (PhD Theses)